The Biomedical Engineering department’s prominence in systems biology and biomedical data science was reinforced when the University chose a systems pharmacologist, Phil Bourne, to head the UVA’s Data Science Institute (DSI). Bourne will join the department in May from his post as associate director of data science at the NIH.The arrival of a researcher of this caliber is an indication just how far this department has come in the past 50 years.

Phil’s agenda as DSI director is ambitious but we expect his impact on the department to be no less profound. Phil uses techniques from structural bioinformatics and chemical informatics to explain side effects of existing drugs, propose alternative uses for them, and help select among lead compounds for clinical trials.

Current research underway here on signaling pathways, protein-protein interactions, and networks provides the perfect counterpart for this work—and Phil’s addition to the department is sure to lead to new and exciting initiatives.

Phil Bourne’s arrival is just one reason I’m so excited about the future of the department—but there is more.

There’s the new Center for Advanced Biomanufacturing, removal of the enrollment cap on the undergraduate major, our inaugural class of GoingPro graduate student industry interns, and the launch of the J. Milton Adams Distinguished Fellowship. All will be featured in our May newsletter.

Our 50th-anniversary year will culminate in a symposium and celebration November 2-3, 2017.If you attend, you’ll be able to see for yourself why this BME department is one of the most dynamic in the nation.

You were part of our first 50 years. You can be part of our second by staying abreast of news from UVA BME and helping us celebrate this milestone!

Best,

Fred Epstein, PhDProfessor and ChairDepartment of Biomedical Engineering at the University of Virginia